


Hecate and Lady Fortune at the crossroads

by orphan_account



Category: LoliRock (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, aftermath of war, horrible people being cruel, loss of family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-15 07:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7213492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The war is over, taking the lives of Auriana and Izira. Earth is destroyed and Ephedia desolated, and Ephedian society as well as Xeris are beginning to be rebuilt. Iris claimed her throne and the death of her sister forces Talia into the rule of Xeris' sole ruler, and lost in her grief she begins to grow cold and distant until she finds comfort in an unexpected prisoner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fireflies

**Author's Note:**

> Note: THIS IS AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE. I HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINALE AND IDEAS ARE MY OWN.
> 
> ENJOY READING.

'Look, Iris! There are so many lights!'

-Auriana's last words before being slain by Banes during the Battle for Ephedia.

***

There was a knock at the door.

'Come in.' said Talia, her voice raspy and distant.

The doors to her study opened, allowing a single ray of light to spill across the floor, and Talia blinked at the sudden brightness. Iris entered the room with a too-wide grin plastered on her face. Talia wrinkled her nose - Iris' eyes were red and puffy, and she had been crying, but count on Iris to act peppy even when all the hell breaks loose.

'Hello Talia.' said Iris and smiled even wider, her way of suppressing the urge to shed a tear, or more likely to break down and sob, and straightened the hem of the glossy black skirt she was wearing. Talia raised an eyebrow as she greeted her old friend with a nod. She hadn't seen Iris in ten months, and the queen of Ephedia was still wearing black.

Oh well, Talia thought. Some lose a sister, and some lose a planet. Even she didn't feel like her old self for weeks after Izira perished, and she could only imagine how it must've felt for Iris. How do you cope with it, she wanted to ask, but she kept silent as the girl whose hair was once a shade of pink sat down on the tall chair in front of Talia's desk. 

'I believe you heard about the trial.' said Iris.

'Yes, I'm sorry, but I couldn't have been there myself.' she quickly apologized, grabbing a sheet of paper from the drawer. Indeed, Talia was informed of the dozen of Grammor's closest followers' fates; two were hanged, and nine were sentenced to life-long in prison. She hadn't bothered to find out their identities as fugitive rebels were being caught every day and their number was growing smaller and smaller, but she knew that these were big fish.

'Mephisto and Praxina were amongst them.' 

'What?' Talia's brow furrowed. 'They weren't the ones executed, were they?'

'No, they were sent to work in the salt mines of Volta.' 

'Oh.' said Talia. 'That seems rather harsh. As far as I know, they were nothing but mindless minions.'

'Mindless minions who were part of his inner circle.' Iris' voice grew shaky, but she collected herself in matter of seconds. Talia knew she thought of the Chaos they unleashed on her friend's home planet that cost so many their lives. Maybe Mephisto and Praxina deserved to be punished, after all. Despite being manipulated into service (again, as far as Talia knew, they were), they must've known that the Riders of Apocalypse leave no men alive. At least Praxina did.

'Okay. Any other news?' asked Talia.

'No. Well, a new democratic leader was elected in Calix. A woman named Carissa.' 

'Oh.' 

Talia wasn't taken aback. After the realms of Ephedia split up after the war, many of them decided to run elections. But to be honest, Talia didn't expect their number to be so large. Calix had once been an ally to Xeris, tied together trough marriage, and she wasn't sure that the new leader of Calix would be ready for negotiations. She had seen General Carissa once before, in battle, and she appeared a proud and stern woman.

'Talia?' Iris' voice was down to a whisper.

'Yes, Iris?'

Two queens locked eyes. Talia's eyes had once been like those of a hawk; two pieces of burning amber, but now they looked like sugar glass, colorless and empty. As if someone had turned off the lanterns behind her pale irises.

'Nothing.' the queen of Ephedia said. She greeted Talia with a bow of her head, and exited the room.

Talia was left in silence. Iris' visit was short, but they all were in the past year. She would only ever come to pass news and stare into blank.

Talia shook her head - she had her own business to tend to. She ran her fingers through her long, snow-white hair and reached for the papers.


	2. Dragonflies

The trees who whisper in the evening  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
Sing a song of sorrow and grieving.

-Moonlight shadow, Mike Oldfield

***

Sometimes, they wake her in the middle of the night, and she screams.

Sometimes, they catch her right after she closes her eyes, and sometimes they wait for her to be lulled into the illusion of safety.

And sometimes, she hides from them in the dark corridors of her castle.

But nightmares always come, whether it be in her king sized bed with golden satin pillows or when she's curled up down in the dungeons with her head leaning on her bony shoulder.

She can't escape Izira.

***

Shackles clang on his wrists as he tries to remove them with futile pulling at the chain. It's not that he's trying to escape, but the metal has dug deeply into his skin and it hurts. Almost as much as the heavenly lightness on his arm where the bracelet holding his gem used to be. It feels like his soul was taken away - his ability to change and soar on the skies and travel faster than a lightning, as free as he wants to be.

Now he's just a boy in shackles, deep down, who knows where.

***

Talia wakes up with a cry deep in her throat. 

She sees nothing - where is she? There's silence and darkness around her and she doesn't know where to go - she needs sleep and rest, because she feels lost and unfocused, but she can't seem to find a way back to her room. 

Her ears pick up something. A faint sound of crying, perhaps?

'By the power of Izira.' she says, and a blue gem on a medallion that holds her colorless hair together glows faintly. Around herself she sees a corridor that looks just like any other, except for the wooden door with a brass lock to her left.

'Is anyone in there?' she asks, and her voice rings clearly in the empty hall.'

There's no answer, except perhaps a soundless echo of someone hugging their knees close to her chest and rocking back an forth, back and forth.

***

Auriana's funeral was held the day after the battle, along with all other fallen soldiers. Talia and two of Auriana's sisters gathered on an open field behind the battlefield, and Iris was nowhere to be seen, preoccupied with her own mourning. Talia had buried her sister the former day, but she felt that she needed to say goodbye to Auri as well. She remembered how Auriana saught support in her, and how she told her that despite having more family than she can count, Talia was her real sister because she knew HER.

Auriana's sister with long dark orange hair and watery eyes held on to Talia's arm as her sister with shorter, paler hair dug a shallow grave in the moist soil. They placed a fragile, small corpse wrapped firmly into the whitest sheet in the world on her eternal bedpost and said a quiet thank-you for her bravery and goodness.

Talia couldn't cry. She couldn't cry for anyone, after that.


	3. Butterflies

A woman wearing a hood entered a dark alley, guiding two young children with her, on at each side. The boy and the girl were soaking wet with rain that poured down on their heads, but they had no cloak to keep them dry and comfy.

The boy's eyes were large and green and frightened, while the girl had a pouty expression upon her face. Their mother stopped them with a gentle tug of the shoulders as a cloaked man appeared in front of the trio.

'Syril.' said the man. 'You have come. I began to think that you're going to try and stomp your promise.'

'No.' she said. 'Grammor.'

The man grinned viciously. The hood was covering the upper half of his face, just enough for a large, rather hooked pale nose to emerge from under it, and thin, snake-like lips curled in wicked pleasure.

'Hand them over.' he announced. 'If you cannot give gold, you can give soldiers.'

'Mommy?' the boy muttered weakly, but Syril silenced him with a gentle gesture of her hand.

'If you could just give me one more month.' she begged.

Grammor cut her off silent. He let his gaze venture to the faces of children, and his mouth pressed into a thin line. 'They look weak. How old are they?'

'Twelve. And stronger than you think.' sad Syril boldly. Grammor nodded, and his cloak flapped in the wind.

The woman knelt down and took off her cloak, revealing kind green eyes and pastel green hair. She smiled lovingly, and placed her cloak atop children's heads as a makeshift umbrella.

'I love you my darlings.' she said. 

'Mommy, where are you going?' asked the boy, squeezing his twin's hand tight in his own. 

'I'll be back.' the woman said.

'When?' her daughter demanded to know.

'Soon.' said Syril. 

'I don't want you to leave!' the boy cried out.

'Mephisto!' Syril silenced him. 'Everything is going to be alright. Now, go with the man.' she said, and she stood up.

The twins took one last glance at the woman, and they followed the rapid pace of Grammor who was already retreating from the street without a goodbye or a token to seal the deal.

The woman stared in their direction for a long time after they were gone. They took after their father in more than one way.


	4. Chapter 4

Mephisto's fingers are tangled in her hair, and he can't free them and neither he wants to.

Her snow-white mane represents comfort, the comfort he has in the calm honey color of her eyes, the touch of her permanently dark skin and in the words 'I won't be back.' she says every time she leaves his prison. Then he cries, and then he cries some more, because he hopes she finds the same comfort in his eyes he thinks are still the color of forests and his hands that can't hold her anymore.

***


	5. Flies

'He is - was? - what?' Praxina asked meekly. Around her eyes, red scratches, the result of futile attempts to scrub the dirt off her face, were clearly visible.

Her mother's eyes were tired. Syril sat on the other side of the bars made out of strong crystal, her hands folded in her lap while her daughter's were gripping the barrier madly.

'I'm sorry Praxina.' Syril said. 'I'm sorry that I've lied to you, but that was the only way to protect...us.'

'You mean yourself.' her daughter replied bitterly.

Syril bowed her head. Tiny particles of dust clung heavy on the hem of her ornated gown.

'Grammor was our father.' Praxina tested the statement on her tongue.

'Before he became a monster!' Syril raised her voice, not for the first time since she arrived, and the first tear rolled down her ashen cheek.

'Before Grammor became a monster, he had been a snake of a man!' Praxina shrieked, a teardrop cleaning its way through dust and grease on her cheek.

'You have no idea.' Syril sighed.

The mother and daughter sat in silence. 

###

'We won't see each other again.' Talia's voice was barely above a whisper against the skin of Mephisto's back.

'What?' his green eyes reflected worry in the blue dark. 'You-you're going somewhere?'

'No.' Talia replied. 'You are.'

She stuffed something into his palm - a tiny, green transformation gem that used to be sewn to the cuff of his shirt.

She left without words. This time, she didn't lock the door behind her.


End file.
